In God I Trust; I Shall Not Fear

The LORD bless you and keep you!  The LORD let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!  The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!

I say this without trying to sound boastful; I trust in God, I am faithful, and I have had many experiences in my life that I know have been interventions by God.  However, I know from personal experience that daily life struggles, emergencies, and chaotic schedules can prevent me from taking needed time.  Needed time to slow my pace, reflect, pray, and perform a daily examination of my conscience.  Reflection, prayer, and examining my conscience provides me space to sit with God.  During this time I become aware of my inner feelings and desires. This awareness leads to a consciousness which (hopefully) leads to action.  Action to change and redirect my energies more positively toward God and my neighbor.  That action usually requires the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance.

“In God I trust; I shall not fear” (Psalms 56:5) can be built into our daily prayer, examinations, and reflections.  Today’s readings are a reminder of this for me, a reminder of God’s love, and a reminder that I fulfill one of my purposes in life for God when I practice this level of faith.

In the Gospel reading for today (Mark 3:7-12), crowds of people come to see Jesus, having heard about all the things He was doing.  Mark tells us that “whenever unclean spirits saw him, they would fall down before him and shout.  ‘You are the Son of God.’  He warned them sternly not to make him known.”

Why would Jesus not want to be made known like this?  It seems counterproductive to His mission of proclaiming the Good News.  I think it has to do with what kind of relationship He wanted then and still wants with people today.  I think He might have reasoned that if people only related to Him in terms of what He could do for them, they would miss relating to Him as He is.

In the reading from 1 Samuel (18:6-9; 19:1-7), some of the key words that jumped out to me were fear, suspicion, insecurity, self-doubt, jealousy, envy, resentment.  On the positive side the key words were faith, loyalty, belief, and trust.  Saul’s fears, insecurity, envy and jealousy led him down a path in which he was willing to take another man’s life.  Fortunately, he had a real friend in Jonathan who took accountability, took a risk and intervened to save David’s life.  He stepped forward with faith, loyalty, belief and trust.

If we look at others and wonder why he has this or she has that, and we don’t, and wonder why God hasn’t blessed us that way, we lose sight of what Jesus did do for us on the Cross, and the unfathomable mystery of God’s love for us.

We can ask God for material or physical blessings, and we may or may not receive them, depending on how God wishes to answer our prayers, and give us what we need.  But I do believe that when we ask for spiritual healing; healing from jealousy, from fear, from anxiety, from resentment, or from despair, we will receive it.

May we not lose sight of what Jesus has done for us and what He continues to do for us. May we not be overtaken by jealousy or fear or anger, but instead put our trust in God and be at peace.